Common Faults
by Dobby's Socks
Summary: Jack is recruited to help the Doctor with the loss of the Ponds, but is the Time Lord really the only one handling it badly? Latest in my AU Jack and Eleven series starting with "Don't Stop at Hello", set post-ATM but pre "Snowmen", Doctor/River, rated for mild swear and alcohol, sequel posted called "Getting Them Sorted"


**Ok, I'm sorry. But here's the sad one. Had to do it. Fortunately, though, this part of the series **_**finally**_** fulfills the request everyone's been making. What's that you ask? Well, I'll just let you read on. Enjoy!**

**Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock**

**Common Faults**

Jack entered the bar with a contented sigh and a roll of his shoulders. He'd been so busy with work lately there just hadn't been any time to unwind, but now he was resolved to take a break, kick back with a drink, and with any luck leave with someone on his arm.

But it wasn't his lot to be left to his plan tonight, however, as the bartender came down his way. Before he could even ask for his usual, the man said, "There's a woman been coming in every night for the last week asking for you. She's in that corner both."

"Oh?" With a delighted smirk, he swiveled about to look for himself. And ordinarily his delight would have grown at the incredibly lovely sight he was greeted with. But Jack was just too stunned.

Stiletto heels crossed at the ankles, the creamy skin rising up and up to about the knee, where the rest was hidden by the hem of a curve-hugging and yet somehow almost elegant dress that dipped down just low enough to draw the eye, especially to a rather marvelous collarbone that was mostly in shadow from a pretty chin with a shapely face and full red lips, a truly impressive cloud of curls surrounding it all.

Jack licked his lips and crossed the floor. "Well, well, well…River Song. Do I have the honor of addressing the Dr. Song or Professor?"

She looked up sharply, the woman he'd only seen once in a photograph, and it was only close up that he now noticed how tense she was, one hand on the table like she'd barely been resisting the urge to drum her fingers. "Professor," she answered in a voice that was soft, but carried a dangerous undertone. And then her gaze turned steely. "And just where have you been, Captain?"

He blinked. "Sorry?"

"Don't you realize he counts on you to be here? What might have happened if he'd showed up and—"

"Whoa, whoa, back up," Jack countered, floored by this sudden verbal attack. She was still sitting and he was still standing, and yet for whatever reason it felt like he was the one on the defensive. "I've sort of got a job and a life of my own. I can't just—"

But before he could even really get worked up, she gave a sigh and looked away despondently. "Of course you do. Sorry, it's just- well, never mind. How are you, Jack?"

"Fine," he said offhand, sliding into the booth across from her. "Setting aside the fact that you already seem to know who I am," a wry smile came to her face, but quickly dropped as he continued, "that 'he' you were talking about. You mean the Doctor?"

"Yes," she said, looking up at him again. Her gaze was steady, but there was so much pain and grief and worry in it that he automatically reached for her hand still resting on the wood surface.

"River," the first name came just as easily as other strangers he'd met in a bar, and yet this felt so different to Jack. She was so beautiful, but he asked of her husband. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," she replied, and it was almost a punch to the gut. Because though he'd only just met her, he knew that if River Song couldn't find the Doctor, perhaps no one could. "It's hard to pin this version of him down, I don't think he wants to be found. I had hoped he might have come here to see you, I know he does sometimes."

"What do you mean by 'version'? Cause if you're talking about the body with the bowtie, yeah he's been here every once in a while."

She shook her head with a patient smile. "That's the right regeneration, but I was talking more specifically than that. I'm trying to find the him that already knows."

"Knows what?"

"What happened to my parents."

Unbidden, images of the fiery-even-when-sleepy Amy Pond and her loyal husband Rory Williams sprang to the forefront of his mind. Jack had to clear his throat once before asking, "What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Captain—I think you met them once—but they're gone." River squeezed her hand, the one he was holding, but it did nothing to ease the shock of the moment. "They're safe, really, just a Weeping Angel sent them back in time, and there's no getting them back. They're happy."

He sensed and knew just what the 'but' was that was coming up. "But the Doc isn't."

River shook her head sadly. "They were his family long before he married me, Jack. And that's really what makes it all worse. I was there—"

"I'm sorry," he offered solemnly, but she brushed it off like it didn't matter. He suspected it mattered a great deal.

"—and he asked me to stay, wanted me to stay. But I couldn't, not for very long anyway. It wasn't just our timelines- I couldn't let him see the damage." Jack couldn't help narrowing his eyes slightly at that. Because while the Doctor could be terrible at understanding or coping with human emotions, he wasn't likely to push someone away or think badly of them for showing them. So why did River Song feel the need to hide her tears from her husband?

"So you had him drop you off, you calmed down a bit, and now you're having trouble locating the him that dropped you off," he surmised, a bit proud of himself for managing to keep up with this, even with so little to go on. River nodded. "What makes you think he'd come here?"

"Aside from it being one of the last places I've checked?" She gave something of a smile, but it seemed more forced than anything. Jack found himself wishing he had some information to give her, some piece of comfort, but it had been quite some time since his Time Lord friend had stopped in—with River's parents. Though she seemed desperate for news, he had none to offer. Seeming to recognize his helplessness, the professor stood, "I'll just have to keep looking then. Thank you, Captain, and I'm sorry if I've upset your evening."

"Meeting you certainly hasn't upset it any," he managed a true smile, and she tilted her head in curiosity.

"So you really haven't met me yet? I'd wondered. But I'm afraid I don't have much time for pleasantries."

"That's a shame," he remarked, and stood as well. "But at least let me give you this." Back straight and chest out, Jack snapped off a clean salute. Because, after all, he'd show the Doctor's wife respect first before anyone else.

River laughed, her head tipping back just slightly, and looked about to reply. But then she stiffened, her gaze falling on something just beyond Jack's shoulder.

He turned, and there in the doorway was the Doctor.

His friend looked a miserable wreck. Still in tweed, but the bowtie and braces in blue, melancholy colors. His hands were tucked in his trouser pockets and his shoulders slumped in a defeated kind of way. He wandered in, eyes downcast, and it wasn't until he had reached the bar and looked up and down it once before his head snapped in their direction. It was an expression torn between relief and fright that Jack was met with.

River seemed almost frozen and so it was up to him to call, "Doc," and gesture over their way. The Doctor's eyes darted briefly to the door, as if contemplating whether or not to make a run for it, before slowly picking his way over to them.

"I suppose I should be concerned to find my wife with you in a bar, Captain," the alien attempted a joke, but his voice sounded dull and tired, such a marked contrast from his last couple visits. Jack had to wonder if this was in part why his friend tended to stay away from old companions, because the ups and downs of the Time Lord's life would be too jarring. It was strange to watch this young face cycle through joy and sorrow over and over again and he wondered how the time traveler could stand it.

"No need for you to worry just yet, Doctor," Jack tried his best to keep his tone light. "In fact, we were just talking about you. Why don't you have a seat next to your lovely wife?"

River made an appreciative noise at the compliment and tentatively reached for her husband's arm, pulling him to the booth with her. "It's just as he says, Sweetie. The Captain's been very helpful. I only wish you'd come sooner; I could have been properly introduced this time."

"This time?" He didn't seem all that interested in the inquiry, perhaps because he expected her response.

"Spoilers."

"Well then," the Doctor said as if he was conducting business, "the last time I saw you, River…Manhattan." As the word fell from his lips the Time Lord watched the woman's face for something, and when it tightened he nodded almost to himself. "So you've done it, too."

"Yes," she managed, then continued, "And I don't think you've done it yet, but I saw you—"

The Doctor cleared his throat and nodded out. River and Jack—who had been both mesmerized and baffled by this almost coded conversation—turned to see a waitress standing before them. Clearly they'd been here too long without ordering anything. With a sigh the professor complied, and he requested his usual.

"Anything for you, my love?" River asked, but as per usual during these visits, the Doctor declined with a shake of the head. The waitress left then, and so the curly-haired woman began again, "Well, I've just done—"

"Please, River," the Time Lord interrupted once more, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "I know what you're trying to do, but don't tell me it's the same old routine, that- that—"

"That what, Doctor? That it gets better?" She pressed.

"No, that I just act like it didn't matter!" The alien bit out harshly, lifting his head to stare at her beseechingly. "Don't tell me that I just go back to pretending all over again, like Manhattan never happened. Like _they_—" But he couldn't seem to get the words out, face pale and drawn.

"Pardon me," Jack finally interjected softly. "But I'm guessing Manhattan is where Amy and Rory…?" He let the question trail, and the Doctor swallowed, turning sad, dark eyes on him.

"So you know," he stated simply. When Jack nodded, he sighed. "I'm sorry, Jack—seem to remember promising you I'd bring them round again."

"It's fine," he assured firmly, "we can't always control circumstance, after all."

"Yes, well that circumstance would never have happened if—they were trying to build a life here. That's the one they should have now, not the one they were sent to just so they'd be away from _me_."

Jack didn't know what to say to those despairing words, but River placed a hand to the alien's cheek, making him look at her. "You know that's not why it happened, Doctor. You'd be giving the Weeping Angels far too much credit for that. They're monsters, that's all, and they don't care who you are or where you do or don't want to be. It had _nothing_ to do with you."

But he stared at her with a kind of horrified wonder. "River, how can you say that—your parents—!"

"—were mature, responsible adults who made the choice to keep travelling with you. They knew the risks."

"We all do," Jack piped up, and the professor flashed him a grateful smile.

"Not when you start out," the Doctor shook his head, turning away from his wife as the waitress approached with their drinks. Jack barely offered his customary grin for the young woman, a bit annoyed at these interruptions. "I offer the universe and the stars and conveniently leave out all the monsters and danger. I lie."

"So does everyone," he shrugged.

"It's not just your Rule One," River added.

"I wish you'd stop listening to my rules. Better yet, just stop bothering with me altogether."

"Doctor!" She seemed almost as shocked as Jack. River was now shaking her head. "You don't mean that."

"I should," he almost whispered it, eyes squeezed shut. "I should leave you here with Jack right now and find some corner of the universe no one's ever heard of."

His stomach lurched worse than when he'd been dropped off a building, and a look of panic crossed River's face. Before the Doctor could so much as move, she'd wound her arms around one of the Time Lord's and Jack had slid around the rounded edge of the table to the alien's other side and thrown an arm over his shoulders, trapping the weary traveler between them.

"While quality time with Professor Song is a delightful prospect, Doc, it'd be no fun without you," he quipped, ignoring the disbelieving snort that produced.

"It'd be more fun if you'd only stop this," River pointed out, placing a finger to her husband's lips when he looked about to protest. "Not forget, Doctor, or pretend. Just let them go."

"I can't," he insisted stubbornly, though he didn't try to fight their hold on him. Jack supposed that was a good sign.

"Why not?" He kept his tone open, warm, not wanting it to sound like an interrogation.

"Because I shouldn't have let them go, I should have pulled them into the TARDIS where it was safe. I let them out of my sight for _seconds_ and- and—"

"They're not children, Doc," he commented.

"Oh, but they were. You all are, Jack," the Time Lord countered bitterly. He and River exchanged a look at this, which he seemed to notice for he amended, "Perhaps you two aren't in all ways, but even still. They were your _parents_, River."

"I know. And I've lost them before, Doctor. At least this time I know where they are, and that they're happy. And at least I know- I hope, that I am loved."

The Doctor turned to her in shock. "Why would that be a question?"

"Maybe because you've been avoiding me?" The smile was back, the one that Jack knew was forced. "Can I help wondering when you won't even see me on purpose while you're like this?"

"Actually, I'm going to call both of you out on this one" Jack voiced, causing both to look back at him in surprise. "What is it with you guys not being able to cry in front of each other?"

Sure, Jack could tell why River wanted him here; he was supposed to be a tether to keep the Doctor in place long enough for her to try and talk to him. But the Doctor was his friend, and he wasn't about to be hard on the alien for his faults when his wife was exhibiting the exact same ones.

"Look, from where I'm sitting, Professor, you're scolding him for not letting you help him cope, but you told me yourself that you two split for a while because you couldn't let him see the damage. Isn't that the same thing?"

"Well—" they both started, then glanced away at the realization that they'd been about to give nearly the same response.

"What's so hard about grieving together? Hell, I met Amy and Rory _once_ and I miss them, I don't want to think how you two must feel. But they obviously cared a lot about you guys and you about them, and the only other person that's going to understand that as well as you is each other. Not your university, not me, your spouse."

The two Time Lords—partial or full hardly mattered—seemed almost stunned by his impromptu lecture, and Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes. And to think he was likely the least intelligent out of their group. "Ok, I'm going to make this simple. River, you miss Amy and Rory and you're pretty upset about it, right?"

"…yes." She sounded very unwilling to admit it, but it was a start.

"Doctor, you miss Amy and Rory and you're pretty upset about it, right?"

"Of course," the alien seemed almost indignant at the question, and Jack inwardly winced. His friend was clearly in that vulnerable state after losing a companion or companions, right when the wound was still fresh and stinging with all the past ones, and that was when bad things tended to happen. He hoped this time would be different.

To this end, Jack leaned across the Doctor and pressed his lips quickly to River's cheek and then repeated this with the Time Lord before either of them could react badly. Sitting back, Jack withdrew his arm at last from the other male's shoulders. "I'm very sorry for your loss. But maybe the answer isn't going back to the same old routine _or_ just thinking about what's gone. Maybe it's about holding onto what you have. River, you have a husband, and Doctor, you have a wife. Comfort each other."

His intended 'or I will' wasn't even needed, for his words seemed to work like a switch. One moment the two were looking at each other and the next River's hands were fisted in tweed jacket lapels while the Doctor's cupped her face, lips met in a frantic, needy kiss. Boy could they kiss.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry—"

"Oh, my love—"

They stopped before too much attention was drawn, fortunately, River tucking her head under her husband's chin—hiding any tears from Jack, at least—as the Doctor carded his fingers through blonde curls for a moment before wiping at his eyes. Jack had scooted back around to his original spot at the booth, feeling more than a little left out which was a new and unsavory experience for him.

His friend looked to him, however, and said in a slightly thick voice, "Thank you, Jack."

"Don't mention it."

But River lifted her head back up and said, "You were right, though, Captain. But I think it's best we head out, now. I think we've got a lot to talk about." She glanced up at the Doctor once, who nodded.

"We've got all the time to talk about it, too, Professor Song, unless you've an important lecture to be giving," the Doctor said in a lightly teasing tone. Not his usual standard, but an attempt, and that made both Jack and River smile.

"No, dear, just an appointment with Strackman Lux in the morning. Still, maybe I should drive." Something in the Doctor's expression shifted, but before Jack could study it closely, River had stood from the booth and leaned in, reciprocating his kiss to the cheek and blocking his view of the Time Lord. "Be seeing you."

"I hope so," he replied with a grin, and by the time she straightened up the Doctor, too, was smiling again just that little bit. It was nowhere near one of his truly happy smiles.

"You'll see," the professor told him, then glanced over her shoulder once. "Coming, Sweetie?"

"Give us a mo'," he promised, and she turned and almost sashayed her way across the barroom. "You're a good man, Jack," the Doctor stated, patting him on the shoulder once.

"If you say so," he remarked with a little shrug. But the Doctor only sighed and stood up as well.

"Hold onto what I have…" his friend echoed his advice in a murmur. "But what will I have?" Their eyes met for one instant and it chilled Jack to the bone.

"Sweetie?" The call was both a command and an invitation at once, and they both turned to see River leaned once more in the doorway. Definitely more of an invitation.

"Yes, dear," the Doctor smiled for her, nodded once more in farewell to Jack, and then exited the bar. His shoulders were just as slumped and his movements just as exhausted as before. Jack briefly wondered why he'd tried.

But he had to hope that soon, his friend would return with a smile and something new to be happy for. Now, though, Jack's mood was thoroughly killed, and so he too stood and left. The drinks remained, untouched, on the table.

**I think that's the first oneshot in this series where somebody **_**hasn't**_** been drinking. I'm pretty proud of myself. So yeah, I sort of really dumped the sad on you guys with "Angels Take Manhattan" **_**and**_** Library feels. Sorry about that. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to, I couldn't let the Doctor leave healed or happy because otherwise "The Snowmen" kind of wouldn't have a point. So blame the angst on that. Next one will be funnier, I promise! At any rate, I hope you still enjoyed this one, and please review!**


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